Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

Nick Timothy Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)]

I begin by declaring an interest, in that I am an unpaid trustee of the Index on Censorship and write a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph.

We are all here for this debate because we share a belief that free speech is the bedrock on which free societies are built. The right to voice one’s conscience, criticise those in positions of power, share inconvenient truths and promote new knowledge allows us to protect and enjoy the other freedoms that define our way of life. However, we find ourselves in a crisis of free speech in this country, and this debate is an opportune moment to consider just one part of that crisis by examining how the wealthy can use and abuse the court system through the SLAPPs process, which many hon. Members have already described.

I am no libertarian, and all good conservatives know that liberty cannot endure without order. That is why I am not a free speech absolutist. There must always be a balance in the law to ensure that free speech does not allow defamation or the incitement of violence, to name two examples. However, with SLAPPs the law has definitely become unbalanced, creating a chilling effect on free speech that gives a powerful advantage to the wealthy and creates lucrative opportunities for claimant lawyers.

This is not just a serious problem for journalists and news organisations. SLAPPs have been deployed by those with deep pockets against company employees, non-governmental organisations, campaign activists, survivors of abuse and people from many walks of life. London continues to be known as a global libel hotspot. Nearly a quarter of cross-border SLAPP cases between 2010 and 2021 were in the UK, and a record number of 14 SLAPP cases were filed in England and Wales in 2021. The lack of comprehensive data on SLAPP cases—many are settled out of court, so this can be difficult to measure—has been exploited by claimant lawyers, who argue that there is no such problem. However, the evidence we have, and we have heard such evidence from Members on both sides of the House, is incredibly strong.

SLAPPs have been used to shut down research publications and investigations before they can even see the light of day. There are journalists who have been able to expose the use of SLAPPs covering high profile cases, sometimes including powerful actors. My right hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) referred to the Russian businessmen who attempted to sue Tom Burgis over the publication of his book, “Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World”. HarperCollins helped to shine a light on SLAPPs, but the issue has not gone away since then.

Many others in this debate have shared similar stories about the use of lawfare to control what can and cannot be said in public. My right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) raised the case involving a SLAPP against Charlotte Leslie, the former Member for Bristol North West, deployed by Mohamed Amersi. After carrying out due diligence on Mr Amersi and sharing her findings with senior members of the Conservative Middle East Council, Charlotte was subject to allegations regarding data protection in 2021 and defamation in 2022. She had serious and legitimate concerns about Mr Amersi taking over CMEC, and those concerns were suppressed by his abuse of the court system.

Last year, after a great deal of time and money, and no little stress for Charlotte and her family, the Court ruled that “no serious harm” had been done to Mr Amersi’s reputation and that both allegations were unnecessary, and they were struck down. However, it was only the good fortune that CMEC had insurance that allowed Charlotte to continue that fight her case, against a wealthy businessman intent on using his power to damage her and to take over her institution, that she was able to win. We should remember the consequences had Mr Amersi succeeded in controlling an important institution in our politics that seeks to shape the foreign policy of this country.

Most victims of SLAPPs are not able to resist as Charlotte did because they are so often outmatched by people with superior financial and legal resources. News organisations can sometimes fight their own corner, but local and regional media do not have the same option. This is very worrying and concerning for the health and independence of the press at all levels. The status quo also benefits claimant lawyers, who collect enormous fees for litigating on behalf of the powerful. As a result, journalists, news organisations and others too often no longer publish information that could serve the public interest and hold the powerful to account.

SLAPPs turn the principle of innocent until proven guilty on its head, and the existing system gives added leverage to people who already enjoy the advantages of their wealth and knowledge of how best to exploit the court system. This power imbalance makes it very important for us to know the true cost to the taxpayer of taking these cases through the court system. A public service should not be manipulated by the powerful to serve their own interests.

The UK is not alone in grappling with the issue of SLAPPs. As has been noted, the European Union has introduced its own anti-SLAPPs directive that, though not perfect, does show a clear change in direction. The Council of Europe, of which the UK is a member, has also called for more comprehensive anti-SLAPPs legislation at the national level. Its report, to which the previous Government contributed, explicitly states that SLAPPs

“impede individual rights to expression whilst undermining the free exchange of ideas and information essential in a pluralistic society.”

In Canada, British Columbia and Ontario have successfully implemented and tested anti-SLAPPs legislation.

It is with good reason that the UK is known for its fair and impartial judiciary, free speech protections, free media and democratic governance—one of our country’s great contributions to civilisation—but that should not cause us to be in any way complacent. We must remain vigilant in the defence of our freedoms.

The previous Government made some welcome progress in this area. As the hon. Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) said, anti-SLAPP measures were enshrined in law under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. While that legislation is narrow in scope and could have been tougher, it still recognised that we have a problem with SLAPPs, and we should continue this conversation and find a comprehensive solution. As has also been said, towards the end of the last Parliament, Sir Wayne David, with Government support, introduced a private Member’s Bill, which would have given the House an opportunity to discuss practical legislation. The Ministry of Justice launched non-legislative initiatives on training and guidance to help people to fight SLAPPs in the courts, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport established a SLAPPs taskforce.

This is a challenge that commands the attention and support of Members across the political spectrum, and this debate allows us all to put our party colours to one side and to speak up for a vital freedom and for the common good. I was pleased to her the Prime Minister’s comments in October, when he recognised that this is a problem. He said that SLAPPs are used

“to intimidate journalists away from their pursuit of the public interest.”

He also said:

“Such behaviour is intolerable”.

I agree with those comments.

The Prime Minister promised to act, and it would be welcome, when the Minister speaks, if she confirmed when proposals will be put before the House. I note that there was no mention of press freedom in the King’s Speech, and the MOJ and DCMS initiatives have been put on hold. I know they are a new Government and I am not trying to make a party political attack, but it would be good to know the timing of such initiatives, because it would be a shame to see the progress made during the last Parliament undone.

I join other Members from different parties in calling for a comprehensive anti-SLAPPs Bill. I would like to see the parameters for the review of current policy and Ministers starting to work on primary legislation as soon as possible. Equal access to justice and free speech must be the key principles underpinning the Government’s approach. The longer we delay, the more lives will be ruined, and we will continue to see free and open debate limited in the interests of the wealthy and at the expense of the public. SLAPPs will just feed into a broader intimidatory culture that deploys hacking, surveillance, smears, bullying and threats to silence critics during an age already grappling with problems of misinformation and disinformation.

I said at the start of my speech that SLAPPs are just one part of a wider crisis of free speech in the UK and across the world. I imagine we all have stories of our own. I experienced it myself after I wrote a column in The Daily Telegraph following the murder of Sir David Amess. There was a concerted attempt by some organisations, which I understand have Islamist links, to have me thrown off the organising committee of the Commonwealth games that took place in Birmingham in 2022. Newspapers routinely receive aggressive letters from firms such as Carter-Ruck when they write about some of the same organisations with Islamist and extremist connections.

A censorious culture driven by social media and increasingly ideological dogma is starting to police our language. We have seen public institutions bent to obey the whims of online activists. The latest figures show that police forces recorded as many as almost 12,000 non-crime hate incidents in the year to June 2024. It has been shocking to hear reports of police officers knocking on the doors of journalists to investigate the language they have used in tweets, such as in the case of Allison Pearson. Essex police—the force that turned up on her doorstep—has failed to investigate or arrest people who are undoubtedly using language that should be investigated for incitement to violence, such as Shaykh Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad, who called for Allah to

“destroy the Zionists”

and to

“grant us victory over the disbelieving people”.

I think we know whom he means by the Zionists. The Metropolitan police has been unwilling to arrest protesters who have chanted for jihad and have intimated British Jews on the streets of London over the last year or so.

All this occurs while free speech is under sustained assault by authoritarian regimes in other countries. Just two days ago, a Hong Kong court used the national security law to convict pro-democracy activists for subversion. The Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran has been brutally suppressed through threats, beatings, imprisonment and executions. Russia has continued its crackdown on free speech, arresting US journalist Evan Gershkovich on bogus espionage charges. We heard many other such examples at the freedom of expression awards last night organised by Index on Censorship. These authoritarian regimes use propaganda and media manipulation to hide their actions, but we must not turn a blind eye. It is critical that we do not allow free speech to be weakened in our country.

As I said at the start of my contribution, I am not a free speech absolutist, and I doubt many Members here today really are either. As with any freedom, there must be limits to ensure that the common good and public safety are served, but we are now at risk of destroying the foundation upon which all our freedoms rest. From SLAPPs to non-crime hate incidents, a bureaucratic legal quagmire threatens to consume our freedoms, to the detriment of our national stability and cohesion. I will always stand with colleagues in this House to defend the right to free speech, and I hope the Government will work constructively with Members of all parties in this House to resolve the broader crisis in our political culture.